110 year old meter guage train stops chugging

Sengottai-Punalur Western Ghat rail route

The meter guage Sengottai-Punalur ghat section rail route in South India has come to a halt .This is the most picturesque rail route in the southern part of India.As a boy I have traveled many times in this route and it was exciting to peep out through the window to watch the engine negotiating  a large curve.There would be at least 100 rail bridges (including small ones) in this scenic route.One can have breath taking views of the Western Ghats while traveling in this route.The entire route is full of steep slopes,curves,5 rock caves,arched bridges and dense forests. One of the caves is one kilometer long.As the train passes through the caves, all the lights would be switched on in the compartments even during daytime as it would be pitch dark.Sengottai is in Tamilnadu and Punalur is in Kerala.Many gushing water streams can also be seen in this ghat route. The Britishers started this scenic rail route construction in the year 1873 and was completed in 1901.The route was open to goods traffic from 1902. Passenger traffic was started from 1904.The distance between Sengottai and Punalur is only 51 Kms.Since it was a ghat section, in those days the train was hauled for this distance with double locomotive engines ,one at the front and one at the rear.Peeping out through the window, one can watch both the engines pulling and pushing the train through very steep guages, as most of the  time the train would be travelling through arcs.Aryankavu,one of the five famous abodes of Lord Ayyappa is in this ghat section.There is a rail station at Aryankavu.The guage conversion work in this ghat section has been started.It would be one of the difficult and challenging guage conversion works for the Railways.Once this conversion work is over the rail route from Sengottai to Kollam in Kerala would be open to traffic again. Railways expects to complete the guage conversion in three years.The news about the guage conversion work in this ghat section reminded me of those nostalgic train journeys.